Assessing my Communication Style

When communicating I make it a point to let the other person know that they have my undivided attention. I try not to pay attention to things around me such as things like television, phone, other people etc. I make eye contact and try to listen and give the best response with the full understanding of what has just been shared with me.

For your blog this week, think about the similarities and differences between how you evaluated yourself as a communicator and how others evaluated you.
What is the one thing that surprised you the most? Why?

Looking at the results of my friends’s Verbal Aggressiveness Scale, I was in complete shock. While I scored a 50 which is low. Her score was 69 which means I have  provocation and may cross the life from argumentative which attacks a person’s position or statements, and verbal aggression, which involves personal attacks and can be hurtful to the listener. I was so surprised because I never thought I would cross that line. My results state the complete opposite which is that I am respectful of the viewpoints and intelligence of others, and attempt to change their minds with gentle inoffensive suggestions that do not attack their self-concept. Also, I had my mom do the assessments and she scored relatively high as well in verbal aggression. The score was 68. This was definitely an eye opener for me because may be there are some things that I need to work or somethings I do when I am communicating with others that I am not aware of that could be considered aggressive.

What other insights about communication did you gain this week?

This week really made me reflect on ways that I may have come across to others, especially in heated arguments. There have been incidents in the past where I have been insensitive to others to get my point across. However, now that I have been working on effectively communicating with others I try my hardest to think before I speak. I don’t want people to leave a conversation with me feeling worse than what they did coming into the conversation. I also should learn that not everything requires a response on the spot. It is okay to think about something overnight, maybe and come back to it.